Actor flies high in Arctic Air

Halifax's John Reardon stars as hotshot bush pilot Blake Laviolette on the CBC TV series Arctic Air, which airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. Blake had his heart broken by Krista, played by Pascale Hutton, last season and this year is a little jaded. (BETTINA STRAUSS)

THE NORTH has a way of grabbing hold of you, says Blake Laviolette on the first season of Arctic Air.

It is a sentiment that John Reardon, who plays the hotshot bush pilot on the CBC-TV series about a northern airline, can relate to.

“It’s an amazing place. I read the Farley Mowat book Never Cry Wolf and it really stuck with me,” the Halifax native says by phone from Vancouver, where he now lives.

“There was something about it that conjured a romantic feeling of adventure in the Canadian North. I was looking for it, and it is everything I thought it would be.”

The one-hour dramatic series, which began its second season on Jan. 9 at 9 p.m., is shot in studio in Vancouver and on location in Yellowknife about five days a month, says Reardon.

“Yellowknife reminds me of Halifax. There is a lot of culture and history, and a very communal environment. People like to come together and bring visitors into the mix. … It’s been so much fun working with the Yellowknife crew, having campfires under the northern lights till 1 a.m.”

The actor, 37, who is proud to say that he has close to 300 extended family members throughout Nova Scotia, began his acting career at Gorsebrook Junior High School in Halifax in plays that included The Importance of Being Earnest.

By the time he got to Queen Elizabeth High and Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B., where he earned a degree in biology and history, his focus had shifted to sports.

He was a conference all-star during a five-year career as a wide receiver with the football Mounties, and while he wanted to get back into acting, he couldn’t make the schedules work, although he did dabble in improv comedy.

After graduating, Reardon studied at Second City in Toronto and in Los Angeles and landed guest spots in TV shows such as Twilight Zone, Andromeda and Tru Calling.

In 2004, he starred on the big screen as Heath in White Chicks, from Keenan Ivory Wayans. Other credits include Scary Movie 4 and Tron: Legacy, the filmed-in-China mini-series Son of the Dragon and the mini-series Merlin’s Apprentice, where he met his wife, Meghan Ory (Red Riding Hood on Once Upon A Time).

“When I first started acting, I found it fun,” says Reardon. “Over time, I found I really enjoyed trying to transform into a character I would never get to be in real life. I like trying to think about a character and how specific I can make that person, how much history I can create to make it as real as possible.”

He says he really likes Arctic Air’s Blake, who is “a little bit gruff and not always great with people, though he masks that with a cocky edge.”

“He’s driven. His entire life, he’s wanted to be the best. To be the best pilot, he’s using the job in the north to get him to where he wants to be.

“But every time he has the opportunity to take the next step, he doesn’t do it.”

Blake is deeply in love with Krista, played by Pascale Hutton, and that keeps him in the north, says Reardon.

“Blake’s in a bit of a love triangle with Adam Beach’s character, Bobby, (who co-owns the airline with Mel Ivarson, played by Kevin McNulty).” Krista, also a pilot, is Mel’s daughter.

This season, Blake has more of an edge, reports Reardon.

“There’s a residual bitterness because he’s had his heart broken. … He’s a little jaded. It makes his character more interesting.”

And Blake now has a beard that was difficult to grow, reports the six-foot-one actor.

“It took a month. … I look like an 18-year-old trying to get into the liquor store.”

Reardon says the series shoots on a green screen with visual effects added in post-production. There are a few planes in the studio, including half of an old DC-3.

“Pilots will come in and advise us on how to use the controls as if we’re actually flying. … It helps us to create a very real environment. We’ll be in the studio with our hands shaking at the yoke, pretending to bounce around in the plane, but when you see it on TV, it looks amazing, like we’re up in a plane flying.”

His favourite part of Arctic Air is doing anything outdoors in Yellowknife.

“It’s a beautiful part of the country that most people have never seen. We shoot in the elements — we’ve shot in -40 — and it’s tough. But there’s something about it that is very satisfying. Being in the snow and cold brings the scene to life when the actors are uncomfortable.

Reardon can also be seen on the Vancouver-shot sci-fi series Continuum.

“It’s quite a change from being in the Canadian Northern wilderness to being in Vancouver in the year 2077.”

Several actors from Arctic Air — Stephen Lobo, Lexa Doig and Brian Markinson — are also on Continuum, which airs on Showcase.

“I play Greg Cameron, the husband of Kiera Cameron (series star Rachel Nichols), who goes back in time to stop a bunch of terrorists. She’s stuck in the present, and I’m in the future, along with her son. A lot of the episodes I’m seen in are flash forwards — where she’s remembering stuff from her previous life.”

Reardon, who also studied Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, says what is great about Continuum and Arctic Air is they are very much Canadian and proud of it.